Spanish Modern Masters

S PA N I S H
MODERN
MASTERS
a d a m
g a l l e r y
m i l l a re s
s a u ra
feito
tàpies
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a d a m
g a l l e r y
SPANISH
MODERN
MASTERS
24 CORK STREET London W1S 3NJ
e: info@adamgallery.com
t: 0207 439 6633
www.adamgallery.com
We are delighted to present this collection of works celebrating abstract Spanish art of the twentieth century. Included are works by
some of the key artists from the post-war abstract movements such as Antonio Saura (1930-1998) and Antoni Tàpies (b. 1923) as well
as Luis Feito (b. 1929) and Manolo Millares (1921-1972). These artists represent Spain at its most powerful, passionate and profound.
A sense of cruelty, magnificence, anxiety and mysticism unites their work. They are driven to search for the highest truths and cannot
separate the material from the spiritual, or the temporal from the eternal.
These artists are proponents of ‘art autre’ or ‘informal art’ – a term that first appeared at an exhibition in a Paris gallery in 1951 to
describe the work of young European painters who provided an alternative to the geometric abstractions popular after World War
II. Informalism grouped together a series of artistic styles using symbols and a variety of materials as well as gestural or calligraphic
painting. Most importantly, this group wanted to move the emphasis in their work away from theory or concept and instead to focus
on the absolute prominence of plasticity or the pictorial material.
In Spain, the informalist trend developed in 1957 with the Madrid based group El Paso (The Passage), formed by artists including
Antonio Saura, Manolo Millares, Luis Feito and Rafael Canogar. The dynamism of this young group had a profound impact on European
art that is still felt today. The informalist trend also had an impact on the Catalonian, Barcelona based group Dau al Set - of which
Antoni Tàpies was a leading member. Their art was also easily identifiable with the ‘black Spain’ of the time: an art that (in the words
of Millares) “destroys itself so as to rebuild itself ipso facto from its ruins”.
We would like to express our gratitude to Luis Feito, the Fundació Antonio
Saura, Fundació Antoni Tàpies and Acquavella Gallery for assistance with this
exhibition.
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The ‘El Paso’ group: Chirino, Canogar, Feito, Saura,
Riviera , Ayllón, Millares, Viola, Madrid 1957
m i l l a re s
Manolo MILLARES (1926-1972)
Born in the Canary Islands and largely self-taught as an artist, Millares was initially influenced by Surrealism and archaeology –
particularly the rituals, symbols and textiles of the indigenous inhabitants of the Canary Islands. In 1953, he moved to Madrid and
focused on abstraction, with a palette primarily of black and white. Millares often juxtaposed the construction of a picture with the
destruction of its materials (tearing or ripping sackcloth, for example, or creating holes and stitching them up) to explore themes of
human suffering, anguish and redemption. His art was “an art of explosion and protest” and “a passionate means of express[ing]”
the idea that through destruction, something better can be built. The paintings in this exhibition are from the early 1960s, and show
Millares using pure expressive gestures. Some critics have seen the transition from the predominance of black in his early works, to
the emphasis on white in his later works as very significant – particularly the pre-eminence of white in the final works produced just
before his death.
Selected solo exhibitions
1960
1961
1975
1992
2003
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First solo exhibition in America: at the Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York
Millares publishes the article entitled “Destruction-Construction in my pictures”
Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Madrid
Museo Nacional Reina Sofia, Madrid
Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderna, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Sociedad Estatal para la Accion Cultural Exterior, Madrid
1. ‘Untitled’
Oil on paper
1961
Signed ‘MILLARES’
50 x 70 cm (19 1/2 x 27 1/2 in)
5
Provenance: Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York
Acquavella Gallery, New York
2. ‘Untitled’
Gouache on paper
1962
70 x 50 cm (27 1/2 x 19 1/2 in)
7
Provenance: Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York
Acquavella Gallery, New York
3. ‘Untitled’
Gouache on paper
1959
Signed ‘MILLARES’
50 x 70 cm (19 1/2 x 27 1/2 in)
9
Provenance: Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York
Acquavella Gallery, New York
4. ‘Untitled’
Gouache on paper
1962
50 x 70 cm (19 1/2 x 27 1/2 in)
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Provenance: Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York
Acquavella Gallery, New York
s a u ra
Antonio SAURA (1930-1998)
Antonio Saura was born in Huesca, Aragon in 1930. He began to paint, self-taught, in 1947 during a long illness. Working in complete
isolation in a surrealist style, he made paintings of a mysterious, poetic world inhabited only by monstrous organic forms. His first oneman exhibition was at the Galeria Buchholz, Madrid, 1951. He spent 1954-5 in Paris, experimenting with new techniques and materials,
and adopting a gestural, automatist manner of painting, showing a parallel with the work of Jackson Pollock and contemporary action
painting. The brutal suppression of student demonstrations shortly after his return to Madrid in 1955 led him to adopt a violently
expressionist style: taking forms inspired by the human body as his starting-point and working almost entirely in black and white. His
figures can be graphically violent and humorous – in the tradition of Goya.
Selected solo exhibitions
1966
Institute of Contemporary Arts. London
1980
Fundación Joan Miró, CEAC. Barcelona
1990
Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. Madrid
2003 Antonio Saura / Damas : Obra sobre papel Fundación Juan March Museo de Arte Español Contemporáneo Palma de Mallorca, Spain
2005 Songe et mensonge / Une parabole moderne (1958 – 1962) d’Antonio Saura les Abattoirs Toulouse, France
2005
Itinerarios de Antonio Saura Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Madrid, Spain
Prizes
1960 John Solomon Guggenheim Fellowship Award - New York
1964 Carnegie Prize - United States
1994 Premio Aragón - Alcolea de Cinca, Huesca, Spain
Antonio Saura with Luis Feito, Cuenca 1957
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5. ‘Pac’
Mixed media on paper
1996
Signed in pencil and dated
41 x 31 cm (16 x 12 1/4 in)
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Antonio Saura, Miró, Canogar and Millares 1959
6. ‘Autodafé’
Mixed media
1985
Signed in pencil and dated
31 x 50.5 cm (12 1/4 x 19 7/8 in)
Provenance: Galerie Lauter, Mannheim.
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7. ‘Adàn y Eva’
Mixed media on paper
1959
Signed and inscribed
70 x 50 cm (27 1/2 x 19 3/4 in)
Provenance: Private collection, Madrid
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feito
Luis FEITO (b. 1929)
Feito was born in Madrid, and attended the San Fernando School of Fine Art there in 1950. Initially he worked figuratively, but in
1954 he held his first exhibition of abstract work at the Galeria Fernando Fe, Madrid. In 1956 he moved to Paris and was influenced
by the Automatism movement that was prevalent there. Throughout his life, Feito has been drawn to a rich variety of sources for his
inspiration: from African and Asian ‘primitive’ art to Native American Indian artefacts. He works on canvas or paper using oil and sand
in monochromatic scale colours, such as black, white and ochre. In 1962 a new colour appeared in his paintings – red - often used in
circular forms. Feito’s use of bold gestures, light and contrasting bi-tonal colours are key to the power of his paintings. He has always
searched to simplify his practice; creating a silent and contemplative space where the inner light of his colours can reach us.
Selected solo exhibitions
1964
1965
1966
1968
1969
1977
1988
2002 Retrospective, Hamburg Museum, Hamburg
Tacoma Museum, Washington
Chaux-de-Fonds Museum, Switzerland
Museum of Contemporary Art, Montreal
Quebec Museum, Quebec
Museum of Modern Art, Bilbao
Museum of Contemporary Art, Madrid
Retrospective exhibition at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid
Prizes
1993
1998
2001
2002
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Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters, France
Gold Medal of Fine Arts, Spain
Critics Prize, Estampa, Madrid
AECA Grand Prize, Arco, Madrid
8. ‘Untitled’
Gouache on paper
1960
Signed Feito. Signed and dated verso also
30.5 x 40.5 cm (12 x 16 in)
Purchased directly from the artist
Accompanied with a photocertificate
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9. ‘Untitled’
Oil on canvas
1965
Signed
162 x 130 cm (63 3/4 x 51 1/4 in)
Provenance: Galerie Arnaud, Paris
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10. ‘Untitled’
Oil on canvas
1974
Signed
130 x 97cm (51 1/4 x 38 1/4 in)
Provenance: Galerie Arnaud, Paris
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11. ‘Untitled’
Acrylic on paper
2007
Signed and dated Feito 07
63.5 x 91 cm (25 x 35 3/4 in)
Purchased directly from the artist
Accompanied with a photocertificate
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tàpies
Antoni TÀPIES (b.1923)
Tàpies’ early work was influenced by Picasso and Surrealism, as well as the philosophy of Heidegger and Sartre, and Eastern thought.
Later, he formed a strong connection with Joan Miró. From his early days as a painter, he was always interested in matter, experimenting
with different materials and collage, often using found objects to explore concepts such as the dichotomy between “real culture” and
“official culture”, or notions of “high” and “low” art. In 1948 he co-founded the magazine Dau al Set. As well as using paint and collage
on canvas and paper, Tàpies also created monumental sculpture, ceramics, murals, set design, etchings and other graphic work. In
1984, the Fundació Antoni Tàpies was set up in Barcelona with the aim of encouraging a better understanding of contemporary art and
culture. He has written about the social function of art as a means to transform peoples’ behaviour. Sir Roland Penrose has observed
how “the ultimate purpose [of Tàpies’ art] is transcendental” and that his “deepest hope is of the transformation of mankind”.
Selected solo exhibitions and publications
1962
1965
1967
1974
1978 1982 2000 First retrospective exhibitions devoted to his work: at the Kestner-Gesellschaft in Hannover,
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York and at the Kunsthaus in Zurich
Retrospective exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London
First of many solo exhibitions at the Galerie Maeght
Publishes L’art contra l’estètica, a compilation of articles and statements
Publishes the autobiographical Memòria personal
Publication of La realitat com a art
Retrospective exhibition at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid
Prizes
1957
1958
1981
1992
2003
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Awarded the X Prize Internazionale per la Pittura de Lissone (Milan)
XXIX Venice Biannale: receives the UNESCO Prize & David Bright Foundation Award
Awarded the Medalla de Oro de Bellas Artes, in Madrid, and doctor honoris causa by the Royal College of Art, London
Honorary member of the Royal Academy of Arts in London, and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Cambridge (USA). Barcelona City Council confers on him the Gold Medal of the city
Awarded the Order of the Legion of Honour, France, and the Premio Velázquez de las Artes Plásticas by the Spanish government.
Antonio Saura, Antoni Tàpies and Rodolphe Stadler, Venice 1958
12. ‘Collage de papel y cordel’
Collage, oil and rope on paper
1966
Signed in pencil
77 x 57 cm (30 1/4 x 22 3/8 in)
Exhibited: Stockholm, Galerie Buren, 1966, no. 6 ill.
Literature: Alexandre Cirici, Tapies, Testimoni del Silenci, Barcelona 1970, p. 272, pl. 278, ill.
Antoni Tapies, Erinnerungen; Fragment einer Autobiographie, Vol: II, p. 280, pl. 1, ill.
Anna Agusti, Antoni Tapies: The Complete Works, Volume II: 1961-1968, Barcelona 1990, p. 342, no. 1638, ill.
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13. ‘Forma marrón sobre papel negre I’
Oil and sand on paper on canvas
1995
Signed
56 x 76.5 cm (22 x 30 in)
Certificate: Antoni Tàpies Foundation
Provenance: Private collection, Barcelona.
Bibliography: The complete works Vol. VII - 1991 – 1997, p. 374, No. 6801
Exhibitions:
Auditorio de Galicia, Santiago de Compostela, Centro Cultural de Belém, Belém, Spain, 1996, cat. no. 36, ill. p. 70
Sala de cultura García Castañón. Caja Navarra. Pamplona, Spain, 2002, ill. p. 21
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Picasso and Antoni Tàpies, Notre-Dame-de-Vie 1967
14. ‘X’
Painting and pencil on paper
2006
Signed in pencil
85 x 64.5 cm (33 1/2 x 25 3/8 in)
Provenance: Galerie Lelong, Paris
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